At Magic Garden Early Education Centre, children learn through curiosity. They discover ideas, test possibilities, and explore the world through play, materials, and relationships. This learning is purposeful and powerful. It builds the thinking skills children need for school and for life. In Reggio-inspired practice, we see children as capable learners with a strong desire to understand. We protect time for deep play, meaningful exploration, and learning that grows from chi

At Magic Garden, learning is not only about knowledge — it’s also about relationships, belonging, and becoming part of a community. Social competence and social justice begins early. Children learn how to: care for themselves connect with others manage emotions develop fairness and empathy work through challenges with growing responsibility These are essential skills for school readiness and long-term wellbeing. Why Social Learning Matters Strong social foundations support: c

At Magic Garden, literacy and numeracy grow through everyday experiences, meaningful play, and rich conversations. Foundation skills are not about pushing children ahead early. They are about building strong learning structures underneath reading, writing, and maths. These include: vocabulary and memory listening and communication pattern, number and prediction fine motor and gross motor control body-space awareness and coordination storytelling and symbolic representation Wh

To us as adults, a stick might seem like just a twig on the ground. But to a child, it can become anything— a magic wand, a knight’s...

Have you ever watched your child throw toys across the room or carefully line up stones in a row and wondered why they do it? These behaviors are more than just play—they are essential ways children learn about the world around them. These repeated patterns of play are called schemas and understanding them can open up new ways to support your child’s natural curiosity and development. What Are Schemas? Schemas are recurring patterns in children’s play that help them make sen

“Play is the work of childhood.”  Jean Piaget Structured Play & Unstructured Play - What's the difference & is one better than the other?...

“If you want your children to be brilliant, read them fairy stories. If you want them to be even more brilliant, read even more fairy stories” Albert Einstein Storytelling has long been a passion within Magic Garden. This article presents some practical tips that parents can use to make storytelling and bedtime routines at home rich and memorable. From an early age children demonstrate interest and enthusiasm for stories. It is a feature that is common across all cultures an

Neurodiversity is a term used to describe a range of natural variations in the human brain. As a concept it acknowledges we all learn and...

Parents often ask us how we teach children to read and write. This story shows a snapshot of the building blocks for learning to read and write that came together for a single child (an ex-pupil) in our Over Two room. Magic Garden teachers are highly skilled at observing children's interests, and providing a variety of materials and provocations to extend and grow children's early literacy skills. Play-based learning at its best offers highly intentional and fun opportunitie

Early Literacy (speech, language, reading, writing and story telling) starts with increasing your child's fine motor control and building strong hand muscles. Young children learn early literacy skills much the same way they acquire language skills. All developmental areas work together in a meaningful, relationship-oriented way within a sensory rich environment. Fine motor control needed for writing, involves developing hands and fingers that can work effectively together t

As children learn to make sense of their world and develop working theories they develop an understanding of themselves in social contexts. Development of social and emotional competence begins in infancy and is essential for children’s everyday well-being as well as for engagement and learning in Magic Garden. Emotional and social competence reflects the child’s capacity to integrate behavioural, cognitive and affective skills with emotional expression, social problem solv

Te Whāriki is a bicultural curriculum. In practice this means that as part of a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi),...

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari he toa takitini. I come not with my own strengths but bring with me the gifts, talents, and...

There are a number of things that we the teachers and you the parents can do to make this ‘settling in’ period easier and happier for you...

Finding out what your child has been doing at Magic Garden Daily routines We use storypark app to communicate each child’s details about...

Growing increasingly independent and learning to make choices from reasonable options is part of everyday living for a two and three...

Toilet training is a big step in your child’s growth and independence—and it happens in its own time. Understanding how your little one’s...

The beginning and end of the day are very busy times in the centre. There are a few things that help this time go smoothly for everyone: ...

Your child will need a roomy back pack in which to carry the following clearly named changes of clothes: 3-4 pairs of trousers 3-4 tops...